


When You Need A Friend

by zach_stone



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 09:38:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4386875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zach_stone/pseuds/zach_stone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Ben and Leslie break up, Ben turns to one person he knows will be understanding – Ann Perkins. Set between 4x01 and 4x08.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When You Need A Friend

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sure this has been done before a million ways, but I’m new to the Parks fandom and I love Ben and Ann and I always wanted more of their friendship.

It’s almost the end of the day, and Ann is just shutting off her computer when there’s a soft knock on her office door. She looks up, expecting to see Leslie -- it’s been a long, emotional day, since Leslie and Ben had to break up. Leslie’s already been in Ann’s office six times today, in various states of weepiness. But it’s not her best friend standing in the doorway this time. It’s Ben.

“Oh, hi,” she says, a little confused.

“Hi,” he says. He’s making very little eye contact, and boy, does he look rough. His hair isn’t its usual rigid no-nonsense style, and his eyes look a little bloodshot. “Um, can I come in?”

“Sure,” she says, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. He shuffles in and hesitates next to the chair.

“Am I allowed to talk to you?” he says suddenly.

“What do you mean?” Ann says, brow furrowed.

“I mean, you’re Leslie’s best friend. Is this breaking some kind of friendship code?”

“I don’t think so,” Ann says. “I mean, you didn’t dump her, and she doesn’t hate you, and you weren’t a jerk, so I’d say it’s fine if we talk. We’re friends too, right?”

“Yeah,” Ben says, an attempt at a smile flickering across his face. He sits down and stares at his lap. “So…”

“How are you doing?” Ann asks.

“Not great,” he says, and his voice is thready and god, it’s so sad. Ann’s never seen Ben so out of sorts. This is almost worse than seeing Leslie post-breakup; at least she’s used to seeing Leslie emotional.

“I’m so sorry things had to end this way,” she says. Ben just nods. He takes a deep breath and lifts his head.

“We knew going into it that it wasn’t sustainable,” he says, speaking almost robotically, like this is what he’s been telling himself all day. “And with Leslie running for office -- which is amazing, and I want it for her so badly -- it just couldn’t work anymore.” He sucks in a breath, and Ann can tell a moment before it happens that he’s about to cry. It’s weird how in tune she already feels with him. He’s a lot like Leslie, she’s realizing. Ben puts his face in his hands, and his shoulders start to shake.

“Uh oh,” Ann says, getting up and coming around the desk to put her arm around his shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay. Let it out. You’ve had to hold it together all day.”

Ben cries for a little bit, and then he sniffles and lifts his head. “I’m sorry,” he says, clearing his throat. “God, that’s embarrassing. It’s just been a really hard day.”

“Dude, don’t apologize. I’m your friend, you can cry in front of me. Leslie does it all the time.”

“How is she?” he asks. “We’ve kind of avoided each other today.”

“She’s been better,” Ann admits. “She really likes you, man. This sucks.”

“I know. I’m so pissed off.” Ben drags a hand over his face. “I already miss her. I feel so pathetic. I can’t stop thinking about how I wish I could’ve kissed her one more time, you know?”

“Aw, Ben,” Ann says.

“And if I’d known the last time we had sex was the last time, I would’ve made it last longer. It was like, a quickie in the back of my car!”

“Okay, verging into territory I don’t need to know about,” Ann says, holding up her hands.

“Right, sorry.” He looks sheepish. “I don’t really have anyone else to talk to about this. Usually, when I go through a breakup, I talk to Chris. He goes on and on about the upsides and gives me some weird wheatgrass smoothie and then tells me what a terrific person I am every day for the next month. It’s sort of suffocating, but it’s also weirdly effective at making me feel better.” Ann nods, conceding. “But this time I can’t exactly go to Chris. Sorry if I made you feel weird.”

“It’s fine, I promise.” Ann glances at her phone. “Oh shoot. Ben, I’m so sorry, but I have to meet Leslie at the Snakehole. I promised I’d take her to get very drunk.”

“Of course,” Ben says, getting to his feet. “Well, uh, thanks.”

“You got it.” She puts her phone in her purse and then turns to him again. “Hey. Do you want a hug?”

“That would be nice,” he says weakly. She gives him a tight embrace, and can feel him collapse into the hug. Poor guy. This is gonna be a rough one.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ann says as they pull away. “Hang in there.”

“Thanks, Ann.” He straightens his shoulders, putting on a brave face. “I’ll be fine. Take care of Leslie, okay?”

“Of course.” She gives his hand a squeeze, and he almost smiles. Almost.

* * *

Some months later, Ann has only just arrived at her office when she hears fast-walking footsteps approaching her door. She looks up to see a slightly disheveled Ben hanging onto her doorway.

“Hi, Ben,” she says, raising her eyebrows.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asks.

“Of course,” she says, and he comes inside and drops into the chair across from her. His face breaks into a grin that he’s clearly been trying to hold back until now. “Somebody’s in a good mood today,” Ann says.

“And you know why,” he replies. She does indeed -- last night, Leslie had called her gushing over the fact that they were back together, Ann, she’d met Ben at the smallest park and he’d kissed her and now they were sitting in Leslie’s house and they’d been making out for like, an hour. Ann and Leslie had stayed on the phone for a good two hours, and occasionally Ann could hear Ben chuckling in the background at Leslie’s enthusiasm. Judging by the light in Ben’s eyes and the spring that’d been in his step, the newly reunited couple had had quite a night.

“I’m so happy for you guys!” Ann says, smiling.

“Thank you,” Ben says. “It’s kind of surreal.”

“I honestly can’t believe it didn’t happen sooner,” Ann says. “By the way, where’s Leslie? I was half expecting her to be here waiting for me to unlock my door this morning.”

“She was still asleep when I left,” Ben says. “It was a tiring night.”

“Well don’t you look smug,” Ann says, laughing. “Made up for that car sex, huh?”

“Oh yeah,” he says.

“Well good, because I can’t think of a more unsexy vehicle than a Saturn.”

Ben laughs. “I actually wanted to get here before Leslie did, to talk to you.”

“Oh?” she says.

“Yeah. Leslie and I are going to tell Chris about our relationship today, she told you that, right?”

“Yeah, she did. You nervous about that?”

“Oh, terrified,” Ben says. “Chris is, as you know, an obscenely positive person. So when he gets mad, it’s very rough. Especially when it’s something I’ve done to betray his trust. He’s going to… well, it’s going to be a lot to take in this early in the morning. So I just wanted to talk to someone who’d be happy about this with me, before I had to deal with the inevitable horrible fallout of talking to Chris.”

“Aw, and you picked me?” Ann says.

“Well, the only people who knew about me and Leslie were you and Ron, and while Ron is… great, I kind of wanted someone who was into things like smiling. And expressing joy.”

Ann laughs. “Touche. Still, it’s nice that you wanted to talk to me. And it’s nice to see you so happy. You really like her, huh?”

“I really do,” he says, his smile fading into something softer. “Maybe even more than like.”

“Oh my god,” Ann says. “Are you talking the L-word? For real?”

“Calm down, I haven’t even said the L-word to her yet, so don’t you say anything.” He waves her away, but he’s still smiling like a kid at Christmas.

“Okay, but yay!” she says. “You know, I’m really glad she has you. You’re a really good boyfriend.”

“Thanks,” Ben says, looking down. “And you’re a really good best friend.” He chuckles. “Maybe one day she’ll like me as much as she likes you.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Ann says. “I’m pretty stiff competition.”

He snorts. “Fair enough. Well, I’d better go try to make myself look presentable. I was in a rush this morning, I didn’t want Leslie to wake up before I got here.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be here any minute to gush to me about all the details of last night,” Ann says.

“All the details?” Ben says. “I thought that was territory you didn’t want to know about?”

“Yeah, from you!” She shakes her head. “Now get out of here before she shows up, lovebird.”

Ben gets up and turns to leave, but then he turns back around. “Before I go, can I have a hug? I’m feeling like I need to hug you right now.”

Ann smiles, getting up to hug him. “This is a nice bookend,” she says. “We had a talk right after you broke up, and now we’ve had one when you’re getting back together.”

“It is nice,” Ben says as they stop hugging. “Thanks, Ann.”

“Anytime, buddy. Just don’t go breaking up again, okay?”

“I don’t plan on it,” he says. “Don’t let Leslie stall in here for too long, okay? I wanna get this conversation with Chris over with as soon as possible.”

“You got it.” Ann mock salutes him.

“See you around, Ann.”

“See you, Ben.”

 


End file.
